Just a Quote!

Loved this and had to share....

Masculine Wetlands - Ocean OR Lake Scene??

This sponged beach scene is not my original idea, but I've seen so many of these type of cards using the Wetlands stamp set, that I don't know who to give credit to! :)

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I started by masking off the top and bottom of front panel with hand-torn scrap papers. I started sponging the inks from each torn edge toward the center, where they blended together just a little. Then I masked off a straight edge just above all the 'sand' color to make a water horizon line, using the same lighter blue in several layers. I then sponged in the darker blue at the top. With the bottom mask in place, I stamped the tall grasses, before removing the mask to stamp the sentiment. Last of all. I stamped the birds stomping around in the shallows! Then I attached the card front to a green pearlescent card base.

I was going for an ocean meets sky horizon, but with the much darker blue and the way I tore my top mask, it looks more like a misty lake with mountains off in the distance! I like how it turned out.  

On the inside, I stamped-off twice (3rd generation) for the lighter image, inked around the edges and left the rest blank for a personal note.


Supplies:
Stamp set - Stampin' Up! Wetlands
Ink - CTMH Crystal Blue, Desert Sand, Olive, Outdoor Denim, Black
CTMH card stock - White Daisy
ScorTape
sponges


What do you think? Ocean with sky or lake with mountains?

What I Love 3-Step Floral Thank You

I just love this "What I Love" stamp set from Stampin' Up! I made a set of thank you notes out of some old card bases that were slick and a bright pearlescent red!

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The 3-step stamping was fun to do, and it gives the look that the flowers were hand-colored and shaded.... but so much easier! I inked around the edges of both the front and inside panels in desert sand before attaching them to the card base.

I stamped-off (2nd generation stamping) before stamping the image inside... but I should have done it one more time to get the image even lighter. The rest is just left blank to write a personal note.

Such a super easy card to make. I think this stamp will be a fave for a long time!

Supplies:

Stamp Set - Stampin' Up! What I Love

Ink - CTMH Cranberry, Olive, Desert Sand

Cardstock - CTMH White Daisy

Scor-Tape

Thanks for looking. Stop by again :)

Decoupage Sympathy Card

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It's so very sad when you lose a friend, and for me sympathy cards are hard to make, especially when they are for a member of that person's family.... it just hits too close to home. But sometimes there is that need for these cards, and I find it more special to make them than to go buy one. 

I scored a couple lines down each side of this card. The center circle floral is a 3D decoupage element, and is mounted on metallic gold card. The outside floral frame is popped up from the gold layer.

Below is a better view of the layers.... each being 1/16" higher as it's built up.

The sentiments both on the front and inside are from Stampin' Up's Thoughts & Prayers set. I used CTMH ink in Olive.

My Favorite Bokeh

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I'm not sure if it's the colors I used on this card, or if it's because the bokeh technique turned out better (I get more practice each time) or if it's a little of both.... but this turned out to be my fave bokeh anniversary card so far! This one was for our DD and her hubby's first anniversary. 

I used my favorite sprays... Lindy's Stamp Gang's Starbursts... for the background. I just love their shimmery goodness! I added water to move the colors around and blend a bit. After letting it dry overnight, I added the bokeh "bubbles" using homemade circle punched templates in different sizes (and a finger dauber for the smallest dots) with CTMH white daisy pigment ink. The panel was just a bit too large for the front of the card, so I used it's trimmings on the inside with the sentiment.

The ribbons are from CTMH and retired.... I layered them, added the bow and called it done! I was thrilled that she loved the card :)

My BFF's Recycled Cards

Even though my BFF and I live in the same city, she sends me a few cards every year. I keep cards people send me for a very short time if they are store bought ones. I'll display them on the mantle for a week or two, then usually out they go!..... BUT...

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If they are handmade - like the ones my BFF sends - then I keep and display them for a much longer period of time.... sometimes years!

When I run out of room, I have to make a decision about what to do with them. They are so special to me, that I can't bear to just throw them away, so I've decided to recycle them!

So I cut off the pretty decorated fronts and attach those to new card bases for a whole "new" card!! These are a few examples.

I just adore the one above using tone-on-tone Crumb Cake card stock and ink from Stampin' Up! Such a pretty flower stamp from that company as well, although I don't know what it's called. And the tiny butterflies with their bling bodies just completes the whole thing.

The one above was made from a card kit, with stickers and diecuts, that CTMH had years ago. I love the copper brads she added, and decided I could use it for a masculine card... nothing easier than that!

This last one she made me was a simple thank you card for an anniversary gift I gave her that included all the washi tapes she used on the card!

Since I'm so sentimental about her cards, now the test will be if I can actually mail them off to someone else, LOL!... Only time will tell....

Thanks for stopping by. Please come again :)

Recycled Cards

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These sparkly dotted card fronts used to be ONE big card. It was a card given to me by a friend and since I only keep store-bought cards displayed for a very short period of time, I decided it was just too cheery to throw away.... so I recycled!! (Yay... less in the land-fill!)

I cut off the card front and then just cut it in half and attached each piece to another card base. Of course, by doing that, the original sentiment on the front ended up on just one card, so I stamped the "pssst..." on a matching scrap, punched it out and popped it up with dimensional pop dots on the other card.

Then I stamped the sentiment on the same color scrap, punched it out and attached it to the inside. Both are from the Stampin' Up Happy Watercolors set.... Easy-peasy!!

Now on this next one, I did absolutely nothing on the front except glue it to the new card base... can't get any simpler than that, LOL!

The inside of this one couldn't be simpler either, because it's from the original card as well.... I just cut out the sentiment and attached it inside the new card!

So now I have 2 "new" colorful, cheerful, encouraging cards ready to send to friends when I need them.

I hope this inspires some of you to stop and re-think before just throwing away cards you've received.... try recycling!

Metallic Sympathy

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While it is fun making cards, it's never fun when you need a sympathy card. A dear friend of mine lost her daughter this month to a rare disease caused by an infection. I made this card for her. 

I mounted this beautiful decoupage rose on to COPPER METAL mirricard (super heavy card stock). Then I mounted the entire focal piece on a 6x6 white card base, scored with 2 lines across each corner, and stamped the sentiment. (I did stamp an inside sentiment from same stamp set, but forgot to get a photo of it.... stamp is from Stampin' Up! Thoughts & Prayers set)

Here's a couple different angles showing the decoupage layers. The outside patterned frame is popped up from the copper metal layer, while the largest rose circle is attached flat to the copper metal card stock, and built up from there.... each layer is 1/16" higher each.

I am entering this card in to the challenge at Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge - Show Us Your Metal

Bokeh Anniversary

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I made this anniversary bokeh card for my son and DIL. It was my second attempt with this technique. I used the same pink and orange Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst Sprays as I did on the first card, and added the pops of a bright yellow spray. 

The photos do NOT do justice to showing the sparkly colors of these sprays. Each one has a glimmery two-tone effect. I love this brand! ..... As you can see, I'm still having some trouble with the stenciled white pigment ink "bubbles" to turn out in different depths of opaque-ness (my new word) that gives bokeh it's illusion of depth, but that didn't stop me from turning it into a card anyway! I let it dry before adding the white pigment circles and then dried again overnight before putting the card together.

This is a close-up of the chipboard heart trio I painted white with pearl paint... and pink flowers with yellow pearl centers (YES, they really are yellow!)

I had to trim the original bokeh piece down to fit on the front of the card, so I added those trimmings to the inside. Stamped my sentiment and called it done!

Thanks for stopping by to visit. Please come again :)

Supply List:

3 colors of Lindy's Stamp Gang's Starburst Sprays

CTMH White Daisy pigment ink

CTMH pearl paint

chipboard heart trio from Glitterdust Designs

yellow adhesive pearls from my stash

sentiment stamped in CTMH Cotton Candy with a wood stamp from ???

Recycled Anniversary!

This is an anniversary card I made for my hubby. The glossy center is a repurposed piece from a stash my mother had in a small box we found in her closet. I do not know where it came from, but she had obviously cut it off of some sort of a calendar because there is a partial yearly calendar printed on the backside. 

Can you see in the shiny part how it looks like brushstrokes? Well, it looks like a little "painting" to me! She had cut out and saved several of these little "paintings" in all sorts of designs! I wish I knew why she had saved them, (sigh) oh well... 

As you can see, I matted it and then attached the whole panel to a card base. Wrapped baker's twine around it a few times and tied on the metal sentiment tag. With all those hearts, it really shows how much I still love my sweetie-poo-pie after all these years and he liked it... red is his fave color, so it worked out well, LOL!! :)

I'll have a few more recycled cards to show you in the coming days, so I hope you'll come back by here soon.

Have a great day!

My First Attempt at Bokeh

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For my first attempt at the bokeh technique, I made an anniversary card for my BFF and her hubby in their favorite colors. (Don't ask me why his fave is black, because I don't know, LOL!)

I started with 2 Lindy's Stamp Gang's Starburst Sprays in a pink and an orange color. The photos do not show all the shimmery goodness of these two-toned shimmer sprays that I love so much!..... anyway... I let that totally dry before stenciling the circles in a white pigment ink, trying to make a variety in both size and opaque-ness.. (a new word, LOL!) of the circles.... I will definitely need more practice with that!!

After letting it dry overnight, I stamped the swallowtail butterfly in Versamark and heat-embossed it with a super-fine black EP.

I matted the bokeh panel on black cardstock, added some fancy black upholstery braid across the top and accented it with a silver metal swirl. 

Then added the entire thing to the card front with super strong Scor Tape.

Sentiment is stamped on the inside along with a second-generation image of the swallowtail... (I should have done 3rd generation, aka stamped-off twice, before stamping the card...hindsight is 20/20!)

I'll need more practice with this bokeh technique, but I do think it's so pretty. Thanks for coming to take a look :)

Supply List:
Stampin' Up Swallowtail Butterfly stamp
Lindy's Stamp Gang's Starburst Sprays - 2 colors
CTMH White Daisy pigment ink
CTMH ink - Cotton Candy
Versamark
super-fine black embossing powder
Scor Tape
braid trim and silver metal swirl from stash
sentiment stamp ??? 

Using Up My Stash!

Just a quick card I made for a friend having surgery. I was able to use up a little more of the vast array that has become "my stash"!!

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List of supplies used:
stamped sentiment - Stampin' Up Thoughts & Prayers
card stock - CTMH Colonial White & Amethyst
patterned paper - CTMH Bella (retired)
trim - CTMH crochet ribbon
Bazzill bosher

Thanks for stopping by today! :)

Chalkboard Sign

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I decorated this store-bought chalkboard for my BFF and her hubby's 40th anniversary. Only the white squiggly lines and dots around the edges were on it. I used a chalk paint pen to do the rest.

Here's a close-up of the flower arrangement. The flowers and ghost leaves are from I Am Roses... and I hand-painted the teal one with Lindy's Stamp Gang's Magicals.... added the twine and a few copper sequins and called it done!

Hope you stop by again. Have a great day!

Heart Flourish Cards

Just some anniversary cards I made using the heart flourish from Impression Obsession:

Also used Got paper flowers and Martha Stewart lace border punch. Thanks for stopping by :)